When conducting surgery, one ongoing activity is the controlling of excessive bleeding. In many instances, a surgeon spends as much time controlling bleeding as in performing activities for which the surgery is required. It is desirable to perform the bleeding minimization steps associated with the surgery as simply and efficiently as possible to decrease the length of the surgery and best utilize the time and skills of the surgeon.
In the prior art, bleeding control can be facilitated by small patches of flexible material, such as gauze and gel foam, which can hold a clotting factor, such as Thrombin or a Thrombin and saline mixture thereon, which are effective in stopping bleeding when placed adjacent a bleeding capillary, vein or other blood vessel. Such bleeding control patches are known to have a tab thereon as the patch itself can be rather small and there is a potential for it becoming lost in the surgical site. Still, difficulty is encountered in loading the patches effectively with clotting factor, and accounting for the patches before, during and at close of a surgical procedure. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and methodology for optimizing utilization of such bleeding control patches.